Latin American Electroacoustic Music Collection

Pablo Cetta (Argentina)

Pablo Cetta (Born in Buenos Aires, 1960) studied engineering and music. He was Director of the Laboratory of the Centro de Investigación Musical of the University of Buenos Aires between 1989 and 1991; and since 1988 Director of Centro de Estudios Electroacústicos at UCA - Catholic University of Argentina.

Cetta has been teaching in several institutions, including University of Buenos Aires between 1988 and 1991, the National Conservatory of Music between 1991 and 1992, the National University of Quilmes between 1991 and 1994, Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Música Contemporánea between 1995 and 2001, and Escuela Nacional de Experimentación y Realización Cinematográfica since 2002. He is Professor of Contemporary Music Analysis and Electroacoustic Music Composition at the Musical Arts and Sciences Faculty of Argentine Catholic University (Facultad de Artes y Ciencias Musicales de la Universidad Católica Argentina, FACM - UCA) since 1994.

Among other pieces Cetta composed: "Bosco: jardín al compás del deseo" for tape in 1991, realized at LIPM; "... que me hiciste mal..." for tape in 1992, realized at Center for Music Experiment in UCSD, San Diego, United States; "En esta calle" for tape in 1993 , realized at LIEM - Laboratorio de Informática y Electrónica Musical in Madrid, Spain; "Todo se vuelve presagio" for Disklavier, MIDI keyboard and computer, and "... y sin embargo te quiero..." for tape, both pieces in 1996; "Como ausente" for piano and electronic sounds, realized at Centro de Estudios Electroacústicos FACM-UCA, Catholic University of Argentina, and "Todo se vuelve presagio 2" for piano, recorded piano and electronic sounds, realized at Centro de Estudios Electroacústicos FACM-UCA, bith in 1998; "Cómo explicar el rojo", version for clarinet and electronic sounds, realized at Laboratorio de Informática y Electrónica Musical, Madrid, in 1999; "Cómo explicar el rojo" version for alto saxophone and electronic sounds in 2000; and "En la oscuridad" for bass clarinet and real time sound processing in 2002.

His activity as researcher began in 1987 with the project "Digital Control of analog synthesizers" at Centro de Investigación Musical of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). Subsequently he worked on the project "Studies on the use of Space in Music applying specially designed hardware" ("Estudios sobre la utilización del Espacio en Música partiendo de un hardware especialmente diseñado para tal fin"), which resulted in the composition of his piece "Bosco: jardín al compás del deseo". As part of his work for the Centro de Estudios Electroacústicos he developed a series of programs of Assisted Composition using pitch class sets, combinatorial arrays and instrumental re-synthesis of sound synthesis techniques. He also developed digital signal processing and educational software. During 1992 he was working on an automatic musical performance software, applying musical graphics and MIDI control in real time. In 1996 he worked on the project "Study and development of a graphic interface to apply to digital synthesis programs ("Estudio y desarrollo de una interfaz gráfica a aplicar en programas de síntesis digital"). At present he is working on a research project entitled "Timbre structuralization in chamber music" ("Estructuración del timbre en la música de cámara") that involves the areas of musical analysis, notation, performance and composition, and also completing his doctoral thesis on "A model for simulation of Space in Music" ("Un modelo para la simulación del Espacio en Música") which involves the development of programs of spatial localization of sound using the HRTF (Head Related Transfer Functions) technique applied to the composition of chamber music with electronic sounds.